Social impact is at the heart of everything we do. Each group company contributes to the six pillars of our social value framework: stakeholder involvement, social inclusion, wellbeing, sustainability, social innovation / entrepreneurship and reinvestment.

Bryson Charitable Group Board Members

Each company has its own Board members, appointed in order to bring relevant skills and experience. The Chair of each group company also sits on the Bryson Charitable Group Board, who meet regularly to support the strategic direction of the organisation.

Mr H Crossey (Chair)

Hugh Crossey joined Bryson in April 2012 as Group Chair following his retirement from his role as Managing Partner of Price Waterhouse Coopers LLP (PwC) in Northern Ireland.

As Managing Director, Hugh had overall responsibility for the strategic direction and financial performance of the region. A partner from 1987, Hugh was an experienced and highly-respected management consultant and spent over 30 years as an advisor to Public and Private Sector organisations in the UK, Ireland and Europe.

Hugh is an acknowledged authority and commentator on Public Sector modernisation, including strategy formulation, procurement, PFI, technology and financial systems.

Hugh has directed a wide range of assignments in the Public and Private Sectors. He is an expert in Public Private Partnerships and has significant experience of leading large, complex procurements in the technology arena, including shared services, outsourcing and finance.

Hugh is also currently vice-chair of the Northern Regional College, a former CBI (NI) Council member; a former Chair of the European Education Research and Innovation Centre (EERIC) and a former Chair of the IBEC/CBI All-Ireland Joint Business Council (JBC).

Mr S Curragh (Hon Treasurer)

Stephen is a qualified Chartered Accountant and currently works as a consultant. Stephen carved a successful career at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he worked for 33 years with a range of organisations, giving him insight and knowledge across the private sector in Northern Ireland.

Stephen shares his expertise and knowledge in his position on a number of Boards and Committees. In addition to being a member of the Bryson Charitable Group board, he also serves as Chair on the Remuneration Committee, the Investment Committee and the Audit and Risk Committee.

Stephen is Chair of Quality Assurance Committee of the Regulatory Board of Qualified Accountants.

He is also a Board member at East Belfast Mission, Treasurer of Knock Presbyterian Church and Knock Child Contact Centre.

Ms Sarah Witchell (Company Secretary)

Sarah is a solicitor with wide legal experience who has worked in both private practice and the public sector. She is now acting as a legal and corporate governance consultant whilst also undertaking an MSc in Management and Corporate Governance at the University of Ulster.

Sarah is currently involved with a range of third sector organisations as a board member or in a company secretary role.

Mrs B Boal

Brenda is a PR consultant and specialises in crisis and reputation and management as well as strategic employee communications.

She was previously Managing Director of US owned Insidedge, Chair of Weber Shandwick in Northern Ireland and a Board Director of Weber Shandwick in Ireland.

A Director of the International Public Relations Group for 20 years, Brenda worked on multi-national client programmes in the US, Europe, Middle East and Africa

In her earlier career Brenda worked for the Belfast Telegraph, was Housing Advice Services Manager for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and ran the Northern Ireland Partnership for 1DB in the late eighties.

She read Law at London University and is an alumni of the London Business School. She holds an MA in Marketing from the University of Ulster and a postgraduate diploma in Psychotherapy from Queens University.

Brenda also served as a Council member of CBI in Northern Ireland from 2001-2008 and of the joint council of IBEC and CBI for 3 years.

Mr E Joudeh

Elias grew up in his native Palestine until moving to Britain in pursuit of a University education. Elias moved to Northern Ireland in 1991 where he studied and worked in business and finance before subsequently gaining qualifications in computing. Since 1999 Elias has been a lecturer in ICT and now teaches at the Belfast Metropolitan College.

Elias has a wealth of experience in the voluntary sector having served on a number of committees and has been a member of the Northern Ireland sub-group of the Advisory Board on Naturalisation and Integration.

Elias is interested in Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) issues and understands the difficulties encountered when attempting to settle and integrate in their new environment. He believes that education, empowerment and the promotion of human rights as well as the recognition and acceptance by the majority communities would not only benefit BME groups and individuals but would greatly benefit the whole of our society.

Mr J VS Mills

Jeremy is a qualified Solicitor, admitted to the profession in 1990. After training with Carson McDowell Solicitors, he spent 15 years with corporate firm Mills Selig Solicitors when he mainly specialised in commercial property transactions and was a Partner in the firm for 10 years until he left in December 2005.

From 2007 to 2012 Jeremy served as a part time Legal Chairman of the Northern Ireland Valuation Tribunal which hears domestic property rating appeals. From 2008 to 2012 he was a member of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Independent Review of Decisions Panel which hears appeals from farmers on grant and subsidy issues. Since 2009 he has been a Parole Commissioner for Northern Ireland, dealing with the release on licence and recall to prison of life sentence and other prisoners. Jeremy has also been a member of Transport NI’s panel of Independent Public Inquiry Inspectors since 2009.

He joined the Board of Bryson Charitable Group in 2008. Jeremy also sits on the Governance and Nominations Committee as well as the Investments Committee.

Mr D Torrens

David Torrens worked in the IT industry for over 34 years with leading company IBM. David held a number of positions mainly in the area of sales, product development and business operations. He has held European and Worldwide responsibilities, bringing him to live and work in London, Dublin and New York.

David was one of the founder members of the Business in the Community Board in Northern Ireland and chaired the original leadership team looking at the rehabilitation of ex-offenders. Since its inception in 1991, David was a member of the judging panel for the Northern Ireland Quality Awards for a number of years.

David has been involved in Investment Belfast as a board member as well as being a member of the Remuneration Committee and Chairman of their Knowledge Based Industries Impact Committee.

Mr W Francey

Willie retired in 2010 after 38 years career working in Northern Ireland local government. Willie worked as Belfast City Council’s Director of Health and Environmental Services where he was responsible for the delivery of a range of direct services as well as environmental health and building control. Willie was also responsible for the Council’s waste management functions and led the development and implementation of the Council’s strategic approach to waste management, both internally and as part of a major waste management partnership of 11 district councils with collective responsibility for more than half of Northern Ireland’s municipal waste (arc21). He was a member of the Waste Management Advisory Board from its establishment in April 2001 until its dissolution in June 2005.

He also sat as a Belfast City Council observer on the Board of Belfast City Centre Management (BCCM) and chaired its Urban Management Action Group.

Will has been appointed as a member of the Local Government Staff Commission. He is also a Specialist member of the Health and Safety Appeals Tribunal.

Willie was appointed MBE for services to local government in the 2010 Birthday Honours List.

Mr M Mullan

Mike re-joined Moy Park in 2011, returning to the company having spent close to ten years in the business in the 1990s. He is responsible for leading the Human Resources, Risk Management, Sustainability, Corporate Responsibility and Communication functions to develop and harness the talent and contribution of the Moy Park team.

Mike has extensive experience in food processing and prior to his return was HR Director with Dale Farm, a leading UK dairy foods business.

Mike is a board member of The UK National Skills Academy for Food & Drink, member of the NI CBI Council and Chair of the NI CBI Employment & Skills Committee; he is also a member of the Food and Drink Sector Skills Council in NI, a member of the Skills Action Group for the food sector in NI and a board member of Bryson Charitable Group.

In 2015 Mike was recognised by the IOD with a UK Director of the Year Award for Leadership in Corporate Responsibility.

Mrs L Brown

Linda graduated in Economics, Accounts and Commercial Law at Queen's University Belfast. Linda’s early career saw her work as a teacher, in the travel business and as a lecturer at the College of Business Studies. Linda was appointed as the first female Assistant Director of the Confederation of British Industry in Northern Ireland, which led to a three year contract as producer of business, general and documentary programmes with BBC Radio Ulster.

Linda joined Business in the Community and soon became Director, a role which saw her assisting companies to develop a strategic approach to their community involvement through community involvement audits.

Since 1995, Linda has held the post of Divisional Director of the Institute of Directors (IOD) Northern Ireland Division reporting to reports to the IoD headquarters at Pall Mall in London. In this role, Linda works with business people, government and representatives from across public, private and voluntary sectors.

Linda is also a director of Elleray Brown Limited, a small publishing company.

Mrs G Cameron

Geri began her career in education in Grammar schools gaining seven years experience as a teacher before undertaking a two year secondment as a subject advisor with the North Eastern Education and Library Board (NEELB). During this time, Geri gained an insight into a wide range of approached to teaching and learning across the spectrum of educational provision.

Geri then undertook a Masters degree in educaitonal management and soon after started up the first pupil referall unit in Northern Ireland, focusing on special education at the emotional and behavioural end of the spectrum.

In 2000, Geri was appointed Principal of Loughshore Educational Resource Centre, a purpose built facility catering for 11 – 17 year olds experiencing extremes of social, emotional, mental and behavioural problems.

Geri has a keen interest in the areas of Attention Deficit Disorder and Austistic Spectrum Disorders and has presented globally on these areas, being invited to USA and New Zealand in her capacity to exchange good practise across continents.

Geri believes passionately in the concept of a “second chance” in life for young people who have experienced early adversity and learning disadvantage.

Mr P McNaney

Since qualifying as a Solicitor/Advocate, Peter has been practising law for 20 years gaining wide experience in litigation, public law, employment and commercial developments. Peter held the position of Chief Executive of Belfast City Council for 14 years and led a successful modernisation programme rebuilding the Council’s finances, delivery capacity and citizen focus.

Peter stood down from this role in 2014 and took over as Chair of the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust the same year. In addition to his work with Bryson, Peter serves on the Board of Invest NI.